The word "hashtag" is an essential piece of Twitter lexicon, but officials in France have decided to formally replace the English-derived term with a French alternative, "mot-dièse." That translates to "sharp-word," and while citizens of France won't be forced to switch up their vocabulary anytime soon, the new word will be used in government documentation and for all official state matters. There is a bit of a problem though; as the Huffington Post points out, mot-dièse alludes to the sharp symbol (♯) but the hashtag is traditionally a right-leaning character (#).

Still, that likely matters little to the Commission Générale de Terminologie et de Néologisme, which has sought to phase out anglicisms in favor of proper French words. Social media has come under particular scrutiny for encouraging a "mismash of French and English" in the words of Quebec's Office Québécois de la Langue Française. That's not to say tech-related terms are the only ones being swapped out; in the same filing, France encourages the use of "bonne heure" instead of “happy hour."